M50 Eye tracking Preview Video - let's discuss

[ashmadux]

Looks VERY usable if this video is any indicator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUTdR758XfU

The beginning of better things to come.

For portrait shooters, nailing the eyes is everything or the image is fail. As great as my 5d3 is, I miss exact (closest) eye focus almost 30% of the time. It's frustrating anytime a great shot has the wrong eye in focus.

I dont care about Canon vs. sony xxx, i care about what is viable now/soon as a canon shooter. And if this helps get my eyes, im sold.

 

[Jester74]

How do you take those portraits? What lens(es) do you use, how you set your camera? 30% is too much...

 

[ashmadux]

How do you take those portraits? What lens(es) do you use, how you set your camera? 30% is too much...

One shot, single point, 2.8 on a 50mm, sometimes the 70-200 2.8. It's bedeviled me for years, a few different cameras the focus will just jump back to the far eye.


I overshoot frames by 5x, literally, just to get the highest rate of success. This is with static subjects.

This happens in perfect well lit conditions and low light (my 5d3 focus in mid to low light actually falls apart, sadly.)

 

[3kramd5]

Do you calibrate your lenses (AFMA)?

 

[Quarkcharmed]

How do you take those portraits? What lens(es) do you use, how you set your camera? 30% is too much...

One shot, single point, 2.8 on a 50mm, sometimes the 70-200 2.8. It's bedeviled me for years, a few different cameras the focus will just jump back to the far eye.


I overshoot frames by 5x, literally, just to get the highest rate of success. This is with static subjects.

This happens in perfect well lit conditions and low light (my 5d3 focus in mid to low light actually falls apart, sadly.)

50mm and 70-200 which ones exactly? And do you shoot off hand or from a tripod? They're all different at autofocusing. Try different autofocus modes, one shot or servo. They may work differently on different lenses. 70-200 (if it's Canon EF 2.8) is very fast at focusing and may work with AI servo. EF 50 f1.8 is very slow and produces a lot of focus hunting with AI servo. The same may apply to EF 50 f1.2.

 

[Don Haines]

How do you take those portraits? What lens(es) do you use, how you set your camera? 30% is too much...

One shot, single point, 2.8 on a 50mm, sometimes the 70-200 2.8. It's bedeviled me for years, a few different cameras the focus will just jump back to the far eye.


I overshoot frames by 5x, literally, just to get the highest rate of success. This is with static subjects.

This happens in perfect well lit conditions and low light (my 5d3 focus in mid to low light actually falls apart, sadly.)

50mm and 70-200 which ones exactly? And do you shoot off hand or from a tripod? They're all different at autofocusing. Try different autofocus modes, one shot or servo. They may work differently on different lenses. 70-200 (if it's Canon EF 2.8) is very fast at focusing and may work with AI servo. EF 50 f1.8 is very slow and produces a lot of focus hunting with AI servo. The same may apply to EF 50 f1.2.

The 50 F1.8 is kind of famous for its inconsistent focus......

 

[Talys]

The video looks cool. It also looks like continuous AF?

Much more important question: How well does Eye AF work on birds? ;D

 

[Jester74]

Do you use the center AF-point and recompose, or choose the closest of the many AF-points? Cos recomposing can cause shifts in focus....

 

[Talys]

Do you use the center AF-point and recompose, or choose the closest of the many AF-points? Cos recomposing can cause shifts in focus....

Eye AF should not work like that. You should be able to select a zone, and it finds the nearest eye to you and AF's to that. On the video, it looks like it follows her after it locks, but I thought I read somewhere that it was only compatible with one-shot AF.

 

[Jester74]

Do you use the center AF-point and recompose, or choose the closest of the many AF-points? Cos recomposing can cause shifts in focus....

Eye AF should not work like that. You should be able to select a zone, and it finds the nearest eye to you and AF's to that. On the video, it looks like it follows her after it locks, but I thought I read somewhere that it was only compatible with one-shot AF.

Yes, it should work like that. But I meant his original camera, the 5D mk III, which has a lot of AF-points...

 

[Talys]

Do you use the center AF-point and recompose, or choose the closest of the many AF-points? Cos recomposing can cause shifts in focus....

Eye AF should not work like that. You should be able to select a zone, and it finds the nearest eye to you and AF's to that. On the video, it looks like it follows her after it locks, but I thought I read somewhere that it was only compatible with one-shot AF.

Yes, it should work like that. But I meant his original camera, the 5D mk III, which has a lot of AF-points...

Ahhh, I see. I think there was a poll recently, and the most popular technique was center point zoomed out, and crop. This is what I do on 6D2, though if I want upper high resolution I will either select another AF point or MF in magnified live view.

 

[bokehmon22]

I'm surprised Canon have eye AF. Canon release a promo and it looks like it works well. I wonder how well does it work in real life.

 

[Talys]

The kind of picture I'd like Eye AF to catch is like the attachments.

Because DoF is quite shallow (because it's 360mm and only a few feet away), focus can be unforgiving. Also, it is quite busy with all the tall grasses.

I can't speak for other bodies, but on 80D/6DII, it's pretty hopeless -- often, AF just catches the tall grasses -- and I end up using manual focus.

This type of AF/MF situation is not uncommon for me if I'm trying to get to eye level to wildlife, like on the first one.

 

[Sharlin]

The kind of picture I'd like Eye AF to catch is like the attachments.

Because DoF is quite shallow (because it's 360mm and only a few feet away), focus can be unforgiving. Also, it is quite busy with all the tall grasses.

I can't speak for other bodies, but on 80D/6DII, it's pretty hopeless -- often, AF just catches the tall grasses -- and I end up using manual focus.

The 6DII has Spot AF, doesn't it? Like the 7D2 and up but unlike poor 80D

 

[Talys]

The kind of picture I'd like Eye AF to catch is like the attachments.

Because DoF is quite shallow (because it's 360mm and only a few feet away), focus can be unforgiving. Also, it is quite busy with all the tall grasses.

I can't speak for other bodies, but on 80D/6DII, it's pretty hopeless -- often, AF just catches the tall grasses -- and I end up using manual focus.

The 6DII has Spot AF, doesn't it? Like the 7D2 and up but unlike poor 80D

Indeed it does -- and I wish 80D did too But it works poorly when there's stuff like grass, because often, the grass gets in the spot Plus, the critter's eye doesn't stay very still, and trying to pick an AF point that will work on an animal that's bobbing around unpredictably is not reliable.

It's easier to MF, and then breathe the focus ring slightly as I snap a few photos; some of then will be in focus. But what ends up happening is I take 20 pictures of an animal, to reduce it down to 4 that I'm happy with.

 

[Jester74]

Do you use the center AF-point and recompose, or choose the closest of the many AF-points? Cos recomposing can cause shifts in focus....

Eye AF should not work like that. You should be able to select a zone, and it finds the nearest eye to you and AF's to that. On the video, it looks like it follows her after it locks, but I thought I read somewhere that it was only compatible with one-shot AF.

Yes, it should work like that. But I meant his original camera, the 5D mk III, which has a lot of AF-points...

Ahhh, I see. I think there was a poll recently, and the most popular technique was center point zoomed out, and crop. This is what I do on 6D2, though if I want upper high resolution I will either select another AF point or MF in magnified live view.

I don't remember that poll, but on my 5DmkIII I used the joystick to choose the closest AF-point and slightly recompose the shot if it was necessary. I do this on my 1DX now and it works mostly... If one single point is not enough, I set single plus 4 adjacent AF-points. It helps when the contrast is not enough for 1 point.